


Reluctance

by StarlightXNightmare



Series: Septic Egos [3]
Category: Video Blogging RPF, jacksepticeye
Genre: Blood, Caretaking, Confession, Injury, Teasing, ominous ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-21 03:10:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14907197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlightXNightmare/pseuds/StarlightXNightmare
Summary: Jackieboy almost always comes back to the house with minor injuries. Lately, more and more often he's been coming back sporting a lot of serious looking injuries. After Marvin's insistence to go to the hospital, Jackie reveals why he never does.





	Reluctance

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if this is pretty shitty; this story did not want to be written. I spent way longer on this than I should've.

Jackieboy Man often returned from his patrols with injuries, however minor they may be—Brighton was a decent sized city and while the crime rate was still in the normal range, it was definitely in the higher normal. More often than not, the injuries would be hardly worth noticing—sore or pulled muscles, small nicks or cuts, or bruises. On the rarer occasions, Jackie would come back with more serious wounds—stab or gunshot wounds, fractured or broken bones, dislocated limbs, or concussions. He was a hero; it wasn't out of the ordinary for any of these things to happen. The alarming thing about this situation was that the serious wounds were occurring more often than rarely now.

Infuriatingly enough, Jackieboy insists on taking care of everything himself. He managed to hide the fact that he got seriously injured during his patrols for the first couple weeks of it happening until one night when Marvin had stayed up later than usual to practise a new spell when Jackie came through the living room window with a bullet wound in his upper thigh. That was the first time when Marvin had helped Jackie with his wounds—after a huge fight whether or whether not Jackie getting hurt was any of Marvin's concern. They compromised: any break of fracture Marvin would heal, anything else Jackie could deal with on his own if he so chose. 

The only problem Marvin had with Jackie refusing to go to the hospital was that some of his more serious injuries needed professional help—not some amatuer stitch job and bundled in bandages. If the magician hadn't been living with Jackie or hadn't even had the ability to learn healing magic, he was sure the superhero wouldn't go to the hospital to get the broken and fractured bones looked at. Even the wounds he insists on taking care of himself seem like they'd heal better if he went to the hospital. Every time to magician brought up the topic of the hero needing to go to the hospital, the man would shut the idea down as quickly as possible, saying "he could take care of it himself".

Today Jackieboy came back looking like he'd just went through hell. Lacerations—large and small—covered his arms, bruises littering his body especially around his neck, a bloody nose, split lip, a black eye, and what suspiciously looks like a burn wrapped around his neck. The thing that bothered the magician the most was what appeared to be claw marks running down the top left side of his face starting at his hairline and ending on the bottom right of his cheek—the mask seemed to have protected his eyes and bridge of his nose from the blow—and the claw mark like gouges on the sides and front of his neck.

"I really don't understand why you won't just go to the hospital," Marvin muttered under his breath as he poured disinfectant on a washcloth. He wasn't expecting Jackie to answer which is why superhero pausing in his sewing caught him off guard. 

"Look, Marv," Jackie began, absentmindedly carding his bloodied glove through his green hair. "I understand why you're concerned—I really do—but there's a reason I don't go to the hospital."

Marvin took this distraction as a chance to press the soaking rag to hero's face, watching as Jacke recoiled with a startled sharp intake of breath. He muttered a soft apology before examining the wounds more closely. "Jesus, did you into a fight with a cat or something?" Marvin remarked, pointedly ignoring the annoyed glare Jackie gave him.

The hero gritted his teeth and exhaled slowly, mentally preparing himself for what he was going to say next. "I'm a hero, right? Well hospitals need your personal information—name, family, friends, age, health records. My whole job relies on me keeping my real identity a secret. No one I can't fully trust can know who I am, and that includes doctors. Sure, there's "patient confidentiality" and a doctor's job is to take care of the injured and sick but there's always a chance of it leaking out to the media."

Marvin was silent as he dabbed the rag on the last part of the slashes, pulling away slowly with his icy blue eyes narrowed, silently confirming he had cleaned each wound fully.

"Besides, I don't _need_ to go to the hospital. I'm not dying or close to it. I can still do things without needing any help. If I went—" 

"You needed my help getting a box of cereal off the top shelf when you had injured your side earlier this week." Marvin cut in. 

Jackie inhaled slowly through his nose, continuing as he hadn't been interrupted by the magician's contradictory statement. "If I went to the hospital, they'd keep me on bedrest and I wouldn't be allowed to patrol and fight crime. I can take care of my injuries _myself_." Jackie stressed, shooting a small glare to the magician who had focused his attention on the deep gouges in the hero's neck.

"You're the one who came to me asking for help," Marvin shot back, leveling the hero's petulant glare with one of his own. "But... I can... _understand_ —to some extent—why you're so reluctant to go to a hospital." He began slowly, beginning to work on cleaning the hero's neck, trying his best to avoid the dark purple and yellow bruises encircling his neck. "But at this rate you _will_  have to go to a hospital, Jackie. You never used to get this injured on patrols or fighting crime. Sure you'd get bruises and cuts but you seem to be getting serious wounds and breaking bones now."

Jackie stayed oddly silent; the hero didn't seem to have the heart to find some excuse to avoid the man in the cat mask's accusations. Marvin finished disinfecting the gouges in his throat.

"But seriously, where the _fuck_ did you get these claw marks? I'm only half joking about the cat thing you know."

Jackie snorted at Marvin's bewilderment. "Do you really think so lowly of me? That I'd let a _cat_  get the better of me— _Jackieboy Man?"_

Marvin grinned, his cat mask lifting ever so slightly. "Hey, I've heard about some of the cats you've rescued from trees. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them managed to claw you up a bit."

Jackie laughed before wincing, the claw marks and split lip stretching painfully when he grinned. A slow trickle of warmth trailed down his cheek.

After a moment of tense silence, Jackie spoke softly. "Hey, Marvin?" The man in question stiffened slightly—Jackie only used his full name to get his attention or when he was being serious.

"You haven't seen anyone... _peculiar looking_ recently, have you?"

The magician hummed lightly, combing through his memories of recent performances and his walks to and from his acts, searching for anyone who fit the criteria for "peculiar". "I'm going to need more than simply "peculiar"." Marvin remarked dryly. "Why?"

The hero stayed silent for a minute before: "I've been running into this one...  _person_  many times during my patrols. I've just been wondering if you've ever seen them before." He refrained from mentioning the person has brought up Marvin once or twice in their cryptic conversations.

"Any distinguishing features you can describe to me?" Marvin offered, noticing the troubled look eclipsing his friend's face.

Jackie opened his mouth to answer before closing it again, a deep frown making its home on his normally happy face. At the last moment, he decided to lie. "No; not really. Or at least from what I know of. Haven't gotten a great look at them to be honest. It's always pretty dark out when I see them." 

It was clear Marvin didn't believe him but he didn't pry, choosing to stay silent as he watched a flicker of doubt cross the hero's features.

Jackie chose not to mention the person he had been speaking about didn't seem human.

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like it's pretty obvious who the unmentioned character is. Especially since they also got a brief appearance in Lucky Diamonds. I'm not saying if any of you haven't figured it out yet. Also I feel like I should mention the egos are their own people in this series. Sort of. As to where Jack is in this whole mess? That'll be found out later. Now if you excuse me, I have Undertale fanfiction to write.


End file.
